LGBT rights in European countries regressing

News

Posted on 14 May 2019

LGBT rights in some European countries are regressing for the first time in a decade, ILGA-Europe’s 10th Rainbow Europe Map & Index has revealed.

A monitoring tool which ranks countries in Europe according to criteria including LGBT+ equality, the index uses a scale between 0% (gross violations of human rights, discrimination) and 100% (respect of human rights, full equality).

The 2019 index shows that Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Serbia and Kosovo are all regressing, with governments failing to uphold fundamental civil and political rights such as freedom of assembly, freedom of association and protection of human rights defenders.

Malta, Belgium and Luxembourg ranked highest on the index, with the UK, once in top position, now ranking only eighth.

Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan were the three countries at the very bottom of the rankings.